Day: December 5, 2023

THE JEWISH DNA OF ISRAEL’S ‘OPEN-HEARTED’ HOTEL INDUSTRY

From opening ancient Jewish texts, to hotels opening its doors to host evacuees, hospitality in times of distress is imbedded in Jewish tradition

By Motti Verses

One of the most impressive phenomena in Israel after the Hamas atrocities on October 7th is the impressive solidarity shown by the hospitality industry. Around 130,000 Israelis had to leave their homes along the Gaza and Lebanon borders. The first hours and days were crucial as the civil service scheme that had to take charge was completely paralyzed. Owners and managers of hotels, hostels, guest houses and short-term rentals warmly opened their doors to the evacuees offering free accommodation.

Is this unprecedented solidarity of an industry related to the essence of Judaism?

Throughout our history, providing shelter to people is fundamental in the Jewish religion. For thousands of years, the showing of hospitality – “hakhnasat orchim” – is considered a mitzvah (good deed done from religious duty). In fact, it is considered one of the most important of Jewish values. The Talmud even says that welcoming guests is “greater than welcoming the Divine Presence”. When one knows of strangers who are hungry or need a place to relax, it becomes a legal obligation. 

Solid Solidarity. Marking a month of the Hamas massacre and the taking of hostages on the 7 October, the Dan Jerusalem releases yellow balloons in support for the hostages and their families. (Photo: courtesy of Dan Jerusalem)

Mutual guarantee is another beacon of responsibility – an obligation of the community towards each of its members, and of each member of the community towards the whole. In Judaism a moral and halachic rule was established by the sages to indicate a mutual guarantee. All of Israel are guarantors to each other. Its original meaning was that each Jew is responsible for the fulfillment of his fellow mitzvot. The most prominent examples of mutual guarantee nowadays, are the various volunteer organizations in which assistance is provided to citizens free of charge. 

Even the chuppah in marriage symbolizes a shelter and refuge that is created by the bond of love and the goodness Jews selflessly give to one another because of that love. 

After centuries of endless antisemitism at the conclusion of World War II, there were millions of refugees in Europe. Holocaust survivors had no homes to return to. These survivors experienced undue hardship as they sought to rebuild their lives. However, in the shadow of the Shoah, there was only one true home that welcomed them with open arms – Israel. Ever since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, a home for Jews was eternally assured, and following the atrocities of the Nazis, an oath was taken that resonates for all time – “Never Again”.

Sanctuary at Dead Sea Hotel. Four Sderot men show bracelets identifying them as evacuees, after evening prayers at the Royal Dead Sea Hotel, October 30, 2023. (Photo Mati Wagner/Times of Israel)

No wonder when the Hamas massacre occurred on October 7, it struck deep within the genealogy of the Jewish people in Israel. Hoteliers suddenly found themselves in the frontline. They felt a moral duty as Jews to meet the needs of their people and help provide solutions to the evacuees. It was an industry showing solidarity with pride.

While hospitality institutions are by nature commercial entities, the Jewish people are by nature uniquely remarkable, and in times of a national crisis the true collective character of this impressive little country is revealed. The people galvanize in solidarity and overwhelming generosity and Israel’s hospitality industry is in the forefront of this proud phenomenon.

Releasing the Pain. Away from the horrors inflicted by Hamas on the 7 October, evacuees from destroyed southern communities, relax at a Fattal group hotel in Tel Aviv. (Photo: courtesy of Fattal Hotel Group)

“This is true Zionism. We say yes, make things happen and at the later stage ask questions,” says Itamar Elitzur, Head of the Eilat Hotel Association. This Red Sea resort city with 50,000 residents is host to approximately 60,000 evacuees. “Over the years we have gained experience during previous clashes with Hamas and so with this war following the massacre they perpetrated, we were able to organize very quickly. At first evacuees arrived separately but within a short time, it became more organized with group arrivals and today the hotels are fully booked. Despite being short-staffed because of the situation to cope for such high occupancy, we are nevertheless managing well,” he says proudly.

ALIVE AT THE DEAD SEA

Ein Gedi Kibbutz Hotel at the Dead Sea was crowded with guests – evacuated survivors – from the kibbutzim of Be’eri and Holit that suffered devastating massacres. “They arrived here without luggage and basic personal equipment such as medicines, hearing aids and even dentures,” says kibbutz Chairwoman, Maya Dvir. “Almost 400 people, nearly the same number as the kibbutz members, are being hosted in the hotel and some even in the homes of our kibbutz members. We had an enormous shortage of employees, but all of the kibbutz members rose to the occasion in providing everything that was needed, from appliances and provisions to just sharing time with these devastated people; after all they are like family,” she said.

No Escaping the Horror. At the entrance to the Dead Sea’s David Hotel where Be’eri evacuees are being housed, an onlooker looks at boards displaying the photos of the hostages held in Gaza. (Photo. Courtesy of Mati Wagner/Times of Israel)

MAKING THEM FEEL AT HOME

“Requests to host evacuees from the Gaza border area following the Hamas massacre began immediately. We started hosting them in our hotels without hesitation,” says Leon Avigad, co-founder of the boutique Israeli brand, Brown Hotels, that started out in Tel Aviv in 2010 and now has 27 hotels throughout Israel, 12 in Greece and 1 in Croatia.

Caring for Kids.  Seen here at an Atlas hotel in Tel Aviv are fun activities for the children, all evacuees from their destroyed communities in the south. Trying to liven their very unsettled little lives is beloved children’s television star, Yuval Shem-Tov. (photo Dany Vaserman)

“Our response to the dire situation was immediate with overwhelming effort to make them feel at home. Well-known Israeli comedians and entertainers joined in our ‘mission’ to help revive their spirits. Even Kosher food was offered by outside vendors, although it is not part of all our hotel’s philosophy. Helping people in need is what we believe in. We were there also during the summer Greece wildfires providing similar assistance to evacuees. This is who we are. We are brownies with a soul,” he says.

Atlas Hotels is an Israeli brand with 16 urban properties and a family business of the founder Danny Lipman and his sons Yaron and Lior, who nowadays carry the torch. They are also proudly carrying the torch of Jewish humanitarian tradition. “Being active by hosting evacuees sends a message of optimism, unity and togetherness,” says Vice president Yaron Lipman. “We are emphasizing the giving. The majority of our guests are usually travelers from abroad and we felt it was important to convey to them through our social media channels, the message of unity. We see it as making a statement of standing together in times of adversity,” he says.

Providing Solutions. Within walking distance from Tel Aviv’s Gordon Beach, the luxury boutique hotel, Debra Brown has turned its basement into a kindergarten for child evacuees. (Photo: courtesy of Debra Brown Hotel).

Even owners of short-term rentals with 7000 units and apartments all across the country offered free accommodation. “Within 48 hours, most of the apartments in Israel were full with approximately 15,000 civilian evacuees. This amounted to a multi-million contribution by the entire sector,” explains Eyal Levanthal, Director of Israel Short Term Rentals Association.

As this human drama unfolds, one reflects as a Jew back to the Torah’s detailed description of the mitzvah of ‘hachnasat orchim’ in Genesis when our ancestors, Abraham and Sarah offered hospitality to three wayfarers who happened to be passing by their tent. Jewish goodwill today has only developed from this earliest fine example of our forefathers that set us on our righteous path.

Biblical Inspiration. A painting recounting the story in Genesis of Abraham and Sarah showing hospitality to three strangers at their home.

Some argue there is a world of difference between doing good deeds according to our own human understanding and doing mitzvahs according to God’s plan as outlined in this mythical biblical story. For my money, there is no difference.

This is the foundation of Judaism.

It also provides many-millennia later, the inspiration for Israel’s hospitality industry, that in the spirit of Abraham and Sarah, have opened its doors welcoming people  in need.



About the writer:

The writer, Motti Verses, is a Travel Flash Tips publisher. His travel stories are published on THE TIMES OF ISRAEL  https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/motti-verses/. 
And his hospitality analysis reviews on THE JERUSALEM POST, are available on his Linkedin page LinkedIn Israelhttps://il.linkedin.com › motti-verse…Motti Verses – Publisher and Chief Editor – TRAVEL FLASH TIPS
And his hospitality analysis reviews on THE JERUSALEM POST, are available on his Linkedin page LinkedIn Israelhttps://il.linkedin.com › motti-verse…Motti Verses – Publisher and Chief Editor – TRAVEL FLASH TIPS



* Feature picture: The writer at the Herzliya Daniel hotel standing in front of the slogan “TOGETHER WE WILL WIN”.





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

FROM THE RIVER OF FREEDOM TO THE SEA OF TERROR, SOUTH AFRICA WILL BE FREE

Could have been a model of reconciliation but instead the Rainbow Nation embraces terrorists that murder Jews

By Gary Kaplan

I know my paraphrased slogan is less catchy than the heinous one chanted across the globe, including in the city of my birth, Cape Town, South Africa. However, I believe my variation is more reflective of the truth.

South Africa has been robbed. Not at gunpoint for this is about a different type of crime, a different robbery, one that is still in progress and if not stopped, will leave South Africa with its open-ended financial crisis and debt, as well as a moral debt that will never be forgotten nor forgiven.

Sign of the Times. The chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” heard at pro-Palestine marches across the world is an antisemitic slogan calling for the destruction of the Jewish state. Does this sentiment  not share similarity with the apartheid of the old South Africa?

The ANC has not only allowed the anti-Israel movement to accuse Israel of Apartheid but has taken it upon itself to spread the new blood libel of our time and be its megaphone. The Apartheid analogy has served less as a realm of analytical inquiry and more as a rhetorical tool.  Since the Durban conference of 2001, this analogy has been used by activists of the BDS movement, along with their stalwart allies, which in South Africa are the ANC and the South African government. Their intent is to utilise this analogy as a framework that justifies isolating and ultimately dismantling the State of Israel, drawing parallels to how international pressure significantly contributed to the downfall of the Apartheid state. This modus operandi of exporting false narratives is an insult to black South Africans who suffered under the system of absolute racial segregation. Furthermore, it is a tragic theft of the actual black South African Apartheid narrative because the term has been misappropriated to falsely label Israel when referring to its conflict with Palestine. The truth has been robbed.

Morally Repugnant. In a display of zero partiality, South African President Cyril Ramaposa, on a state visit to Qatar, requested that the International Criminal Court investigate alleged Israeli war crimes in its war with Hamas saying Israel has “turned Gaza into a concentration camp where genocide is taking place.” Ignoring the barbarity and butchery Hamas inflicted upon Jewish civilians, the South African president also posted a video of a speech he delivered at a rally in support of Gaza, whose killer squads had perpetrated a massacre  on the 7 October.

Continuing on this misguided path, South Africa’s ANC’s leadership persistently espouses ignorantly on Israel’s war against the terrorist-run state of Gaza. Joining with the outrageous statements by different members of his government, on November 17, President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters during a state visit to Qatar that Gaza:

 “Has now turned into a concentration camp where genocide is taking place.”

It took the South African government nine days to condemn the 7th of October massacre by Hamas, and with that, it quickly blamed Israel for the:

 “genocide of the people of Gaza.”

This type of rhetoric backing Islamic terrorists is yet another slap in the face to the real freedom fighters who opposed Apartheid and exposes South Africa’s Jewish community to the danger of mob violence. We saw last month what transpired on Sea Point beach front when one of the organisers of the violence against Jews, Hannie Orrie, said:

 “We share one objective: to rid this country of Zionism.” The threat of the EFF, South Africa’s third largest political party to close down the Jewish day school, Herzlia, while ominous, is a symptom of the ANC government’s close associations with those terrorists seeking Israel’s destruction.

Jews not Wanted. A violent counter-protest at a rally that was meant to be in support of Israel in Sea Point where Jews were warned to stay away. It begs the question of how safe are Jews in South Africa today?

The Rainbow Nation and the ANC had a choice; they could have made a significant impact by trying to be a role model of reconciliation and broker a peace but instead, they chose to support Hamas that murderously and mercilessly pursues the destruction of the state of Israel. Instead of governing and rebuilding South Africa, they have spent their energy on siding with terrorists and allowing antisemitism and violence to breed and spread across South Africa.

Close or Else What? Although the Jewish community’s leadership is unbowed and defiant, it is a sign of the times in South Africa when the third largest political party can threaten the Westen Cape Premier, Alan Winde that he has “until the end of the year to close down [Herzlia] school, or the EFF [Economic Freedom Fighters] South Africa will have to!”

How can a nation reborn after Apartheid be so intertwined with a brutal terrorist organisation like Hamas? Where did it go so wrong?

In my mind, there is a clear link between the Government’s anti-Israel sentiment and the country’s apparent infrastructure collapse, high crime and economic malaise.  I am sure there are many realpolitik reasons for the ANC to be so vocal against Israel, which include anti-western politicians in the ANC, seeking Muslim voters, BRICS, etc. However, they all start from a real ideological point. The ANC admire Hamas, they see them as themselves, and in that obscure way, they have a twisted take on history and reality. The only fundamental similarity between the ANC and the Palestinians is that both are ignoring the chance to govern their people to provide security and prosperity.

I can ensure the South African government that their people would prefer electricity 24 hours a day, clean water and an end to poverty and crime than its shallow forays into ‘foreign policy’.

After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, it took them 40 years to reach the promised land. Why? Not because they were literally lost but because a generation of slave- mentality needed to die for a new generation to understand the concept of freedom and live freely. It seems the ANC suffer from the same mentality; they too haven’t come to terms with the idea of freedom and its obligations and responsibilities. I find it hard to believe that the rainbow nation was created to align itself with terror and the destruction of the only Jewish state in the world. It seems South Africa today is going through the same evils it once had: racism, antisemitism, bigotry and supremacy. Once again, the Jews of South Africa need to explain to their government their place in society and explain why, even though their skin colour may be white, they are not “colonialists” but Jews. Have the ANC become the people they have fought against decades ago? Their blatant antisemitism would suggest so.

This ANC government supports an organisation responsible for the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust – an organisation whose official policy is to murder Jews and which poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

Blind Support. Supporting Hamas, South Africa’s ANC leadership ignores how the current hostilities began with photos like these of a blood-soaked child’s bed in Kibbutz Kfar Aza where children were butchered on October 7.

It seems to me that the South African government today is no better than when white Afrikaner nationalism of the 1930s sided with Nazism, aligning with evil.

Is this what my Jewish parents so strongly opposed in South Africa? Is this the new South Africa?

The South African government’s comments on “genocide” and “concentration camps” regarding the war in Gaza, place it alongside history’s greatest holocaust deniers. I am sure this is not the legacy Mandela would have wanted to be associated with!

The ANC’s more-recent posturing that the narrative of the Palestinian people’s struggle resembles their own history of racial segregation and oppression undermines the true narrative of the struggle against Apartheid. It is diluting their history and dissipating its value. What started off as a just cause of striving for freedom has bizarrely morphed to supporting destruction, rape and brutal massacre. Who after all in their right mind, takes babies and toddlers as hostages and can claim to be “freedom fighters”?

South Africa – From Economic To Moral Decline. In response to the will of the street, the South African parliament has called on the ANC government to close down the Israeli embassy, while having no problem hosting a Hamas delegation to South Africa that is responsible for the massacre of Jews on October 7, the worst since the Holocaust.

However, in the last week, South Africa’s ANC government has taken its endangerment to Jews to an all-new level by welcoming in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre, a senior Hamas delegation to South Africa to participate in the Fifth Global Convention of Solidarity with Palestine. The delegation included politburo member Bassem Naim, Hamas representative in Iran, Khaled Qaddoumi and Hamas representative in East, Central and Southern Africa Emad Saber.

According to a press release, the Fifth Global Convention of Solidarity with Palestine was jointly organised by the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine and the Royal House of Mandela and would commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Global Campaign’s launch and the death of Nelson Mandela. What would Mandela who so loved children, and as president donated half of his salary to poor children and when he received the Nobel Peace Prize, gave part of the prize money to help street children say about the users and abusers of his legacy cozying up to the likes of Hamas who in the process of perpetrating a massacre of Jews, take babies and toddlers as hostages?

Seems more of the old South Africa than the new.  



South African Islamic Scholars Laud October 7 Massacre By Hamas: We Are Extremely Proud Of The Mujahideen, Our Brothers And Sisters From Hamas; This Was A Morning Of Honor And Glory; The Al-Qassam Brigades Are Connected To Allah



About the writer:

South Africa-born, Gary Kaplan works in the international relations division at Israel’s national trade union, the Histadrut where inter alia, he manages its youth exchange programme with the German trade union Confederation addressing issues from labour relations to Holocaust remembrance.





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).